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brief history of personal computers
brief history of personal computers
brief history of personal computers
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Development of computer
What is computer? According to Wikipedia, computer is a device that can be programmed to do a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. It is started with the basic device to perform a mathematic problem which is known as Abacus. Computer has been developing year by year and we have seen a lot of generation or development of computer nowadays. The first generation of computer starting from years 1940-1950, this can be called as the first electronic computer. During this time, the computers were using vacuum tubes and it is more complex and huge. The vacuum tube is designed by Lee De Forest. The vacuum tube is a device that is used to amplify the signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space. The first general purpose electronic computer was known as ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. The first computer was ENIAC machine by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania. This ENIAC used 10 decimal digits instead of one binary like the other computer. This ENIAC used more than 2000 vacuum tubes and took up about 167 m square of space. ENIAC is generally known as the first high speed electronic digital computer and were productively used during the era.
The second generation of computer starting from 1950-1960 thanks to person who inverted a transistor William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain of Bell Labs. In 1950 two devices were invented in order to improve the development of computer in this era. The first of this two was transistor. The transistor was invented to overcome the vacuum tube in computers. The transistor consume less power and less heat produced and consume less space compared with computer using vacu...
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... Odyssey. HAL performed the entire real life fifth generation computer. Many advances in the science of computer design and technology are coming together to enable the creation of fifth-generation computers. Two such engineering advances are parallel processing, which replaces von Neumann's single central processing unit design with a system harnessing the power of many CPUs to work as one. Another advance is superconductor technology, which allows the flow of electricity with little or no resistance, greatly improving the speed of information flow. Computers today have some attributes of fifth generation computers. For example, expert systems assist doctors in making diagnoses by applying the problem-solving steps a doctor might use in assessing a patient's needs. It will take several more years of development before expert systems are in widespread use.
I took from John Searl's article that we should have no trepidation of our future and the future of technology. HAL is the stuff of science fiction, not reality. We need not be fearful that computers will one day surpass humans in intelligence. They are only as smart as we are. They only regurgitate that information faster than we do. In the future I foresee technology continuing to be more of an aid for human education and a tool for bettering ourselves.
Herman Hollerith (1860 - 1929) founded IBM ( as the Tabulating Machine Company ) in 1896. The company renames known as IBM in 1924. In 1906 Lee D. Forest in America developed the electronic tube (an electronic value). Before this it would have been impossible to make digital electronic computers. In 1919 W. H. Eccles and F. W. Jordan published the first flip-flop circuit design.
Another invention that is now frequently used is the computer. The concept was made in 1822, by Charles Babbage, but it wasn’t until 1837 when he ...
There are many different beginnings to the origins of computers. Their origins could be dated back more than two thousand years ago, depending on what a person means when they ask where the first computer came from. Most primitive computers were created for the purpose of running simple programs at best. (Daves Old Computers) However, the first ‘digital’ computer was created for the purposes of binary arithmetic, otherwise known as simple math. It was also created for regenerative memory, parallel processing, and separation of memory and computing functions. Built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry during 1937-1942, it was dubbed the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC).
Most of the day the human mind is taking in information, analyzing it, storing it accordingly, and recalling past knowledge to solve problems logically. This is similar to the life of any computer. Humans gain information through the senses. Computers gain similar information through a video camera, a microphone, a touch pad or screen, and it is even possible for computers to analyze scent and chemicals. Humans also gain information through books, other people, and even computers, all of which computers can access through software, interfacing, and modems. For the past year speech recognition software products have become mainstream(Lyons,176). All of the ways that humans gain information are mimicked by computers. Humans then proceed to analyze and store the information accordingly. This is a computer's main function in today's society. Humans then take all of this information and solve problems logically. This is where things get complex. There are expert systems that can solve complex problems that humans train their whole lives for. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue defeated the world champion in a game of chess(Karlgaard, p43). Expert systems design buildings, configure airplanes, and diagnose breathing problems. NASA's Deep Space One probe left with software that lets the probe diagnose problems and fix itself(Lyons).
Another example of the change in our technology over the last century is the change in the computer. In 1946, the first electronic computer called the ENIAC took up the space of a large room. Instead of using transistors and IC chips, the ENIAC used vacuum tubes. Compared to many computers now, the ENIAC is about as powerful as a small calculator. That may not be much, but it is a milestone because there would not be computers today if it were not for the ENIAC. As the years passed, the computer became smaller and more powerful. Today, more than half of the American population has a computer in their home. The personal computers today are thousands of times more powerful than the most powerful computers fifty years ago.
The electronic computer is a relatively modern invention; the first fully operable computer was developed about 50 years ago, at the end of World War II, by a team at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering. This team was headed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, who named the new machine ENIAC, for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator. ENIAC was hardly a personal computer, occupying a large room and weighing about 33 tons. By today's standards, ENIAC was extremely slow, unreliable, and expensive to operate. In 1945, on the other hand, it was considered a marvel.
Computers are changing the world as we know it, and they offer an exciting new way of working. The news represented a complete turnaround for the corporate giant. Microsoft Chairperson, Bill Gates publicly announced his company's new connection to the Internet. The announcement rang through the nation. Gates has consistently ignored the Internet in favor of desktop computing. So, with Microsoft's approval, computers kicked into even higher gear . The pace of innovation continues to astonish even those involved from the start. If one wants to find enthusiasm, intellect, hard work, and imagination; then computers is the place to be .
We have the microprocessor to thank for all of our consumer electronic devices, because without them, our devices would be much larger. Microprocessors are the feat of generations of research and development. Microprocessors were invented in 1972 by Intel Corporation and have made it so that computers could shrink to the sizes we know today. Before, computers took a room because the transistors or vacuum tubes were individual components. Microprocessors unified the technology on one chip while reducing the costs. Microprocessor technology has been the most important revolution in the computer industry in the past forty years, as microprocessors have allowed our consumer electronics to exist.
The First Generation of Computers The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers. In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT. The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.
asteroid was on a line with Earth, the computer would show us and enable us
In the fifth generation, many different ideas had been developed and started from 1985. Some of these ideas are video games, voice recognition, and robots. Many people felt the difference in this generation because machines started to be more useful and used everywhere. There is one main goal for the fifth generation, which is computers use fiber technology. The use of fiber technology should help in by computers overtake and perform the task needed without needing the order from a human. The fifth generation tried also to use nanotechnology, molecular, and quantum computation which was a device that was consisted of unlimited lengthened tape. The quantum computers had beed developed that it is faster at doing calculations than the silicon based computer. After Alan Turing invented turning machine, which was a device that was made of tape of an unlimited length and can hold a zero, a one, or a blank place, the quantum was invented which helped because the unlimited length tapes were placed inside the quantum state. The person who should be credited because of his work on quantum computers is Paul Benioff. He created quantum computers in 1981 after the development of turning machines. Quantum record data in bits and qubits. Qubits illustrates atoms, ions, and electrons that create computer memory. There are some machines that is considered in the fifth generation like desktop, laptop, and notebook, this generation should develop through out the upcoming
These statistics are amazing, but even more amazing is the development of computers. Now in 2005, in this short 68-year period, computer technology has changed its entire look; now, we use computer chips instead of vacuum tubes and circuit board instead of wires. The changes in size and speed are probably the biggest. When we look at computers today, it is very hard to imagine computers 60 years ago were such big, heavy monsters.
Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.